#Major Fred C. Dobbs

[oh-hawkeye]

You mean this isn't a nurse?

M*A*S*H, "Major Fred C. Dobbs"

[jonberry555]

M*A*S*H: Major Fred C. Dobbs | Season 1 Episode 22 | Retro Review

[mash4077confessions]

[hawkeyeslaughter]

Hey! How did you first start watching M*A*S*H? For me, at the beginning, it was always while eating soup with my parents during a vacation at a farm with horses. What was your introduction to it?

hii !! and that truly sounds like the way mash was meant to be watched <3

for me it was also with my parents ! my dad travelled a lot when i was little so it was really fun when he was home . he’d come home from work and turn on mash … i also grew up in a pretty small house so i could hear it from any room , so whenever i heard the opening theme start playing i knew his espn was over and it was mash time !! my dad and i would sit in the living room and watch an episode while my mom popped in and out from the kitchen while she cooked to watch some of the episode . on weekends we’d also sometimes have mash marathons because the cable station we watched it on would play it all day :]

[mashpoll]

Major Fred C. Dobbs (s1 e22): Frank wants a transfer, but Hawkeye and Trapper trick him into staying when they plant phony gold near the compound.

Yankee Doodle Doctor (s1 e6): General Clayton sends a film crew to the 4077th, but Hawkeye and Trapper, appalled by the propaganda, take matters into their own hands.

[drpierceandmrhyde]

I’m still chewing on Margaret immediately thinking it’s her fault when Frank tells her he’s transferring

[marley-manson]

Hawkeye and Frank are the two most diametrically opposed characters on Mash. They clash politically, ideologically, emotionally, intellectually, and even physically on more than one occasion. There is virtually nothing they agree on. But they do have one significant similarity: both Hawkeye and Frank are notably, pointedly effeminate.

Hawkeye is the central protagonist, so he's written to be likeable, even admirable, especially in the first five seasons of the show when satire dominated rather than character drama. He's the character who makes the correct political points and voices the show's ideology, and male audience members are encouraged to identify with him and aspire to be like him. He's witty, he's smart, he's charismatic, he dodges consequences a lot, he's highly skilled in his work, and he has a strong personality and natural leadership qualities.

Frank is the main antagonist up until the end of season five. He's written for audiences to hate him, mock him, and occasionally be horrified by him. He's dull-witted, incompetent, awkward, easily led and manipulated, and always gets his comeuppance. Few audience members are likely to aspire to be more like Frank Burns.

And yet, while most likeable protagonist/detestable antagonist duos in American popular media would also be differentiated in terms of gender performance as a matter of course - the effeminate villain being a standard stock character, always set against a ruggedly masculine hero - Mash takes a different approach.

From his core personality as a sniveling, weak-willed follower, to the way other characters, including Hawkeye, routinely make fun of him by comparing him to a woman or insinuating that he's gay, Frank Burns certainly fits the part of weak, emasculated villain. What's more interesting, and much less commonly seen in Hollywood media, is that Hawkeye is portrayed as just as unmanly, and just as, if not more prone to having it pointed out in the show.

Often Hawkeye's jokes at Frank's expense include the implication that Hawkeye is attracted to him himself, and not necessarily as "the man." He jokes, "Guess it's a marriage, Frank. I know I can do better, but at my age, can I wait?" in Hawkeye, Get Your Gun; he switches from calling Frank one of his vampire brides to taking the feminine part in post-coital pillow talk after siphoning his blood in Germ Warfare; he kisses or tells Frank to kiss him in Major Fred C. Dobbs, For the Good of the Outfit, and Bulletin Board, etc.

Other times, the jokes Hawkeye makes about himself are virtually identical to the jokes made at Frank's expense - their respective attractions to Margaret as a potentially dominant sexual partner, eg, with both Frank and Hawkeye portrayed as eagerly submissive. For instance, in 5 O'Clock Charlie Hawkeye jokes about tying Frank to Margaret's tent, then dismisses the thought with, "He'd probably love it. I know I would." And Hawkeye/Trapper and Frank/Margaret are sometimes paralleled as dual couples, Hawkeye and Frank usually being framed as the more feminine partner in each.

And of course, unconnected to Frank, there are many, many more examples of Hawkeye's effeminacy, both in jokes and in personality traits.

Hawkeye is a self-professed coward who is loud and proud about how terrified he is to be stuck in a war zone. He's emotionally open and highly empathetic, always willing to listen to others' problems and discuss (or scream about) his own. He abhors institutional violence and faces every enemy combatant with his hands firmly in the air. When authority is thrust upon him he strives to relinquish it, and uses it as little as possible.

More shallowly, he has little interest in sports and exercise, derides masculine hobby magazines like Field and Stream and Popular Mechanics, is incapable of performing mechanical tasks to the exasperation of others at least four times (Comrades in Arms which explicitly frames this emasculating, In Love and War, Patent 4077, and Hey, Look Me Over), mocks traditional masculinity in many ways, and enjoys musical theatre and Hollywood gossip. And he makes and takes literally hundreds of jokes about being unmanly and having sex with men himself, many more than he makes at Frank's expense.

But while the jokes are at Frank's expense and meant to belittle him, they're rarely made at Hawkeye's expense, especially in the first five seasons. Hawkeye doesn't make the jokes out of self-deprecation, he makes them out of pride and a desire to differentiate himself from the army men he's surrounded by. He's almost always in on the jokes others make about him, rather than offended - Potter telling him to file a paternity suit against his rival in Hepatitis makes him laugh delightedly, and Trapper's remarks on his effeminacy, such as Miz Hawkeye in Hot Lips and Empty Arms, are sometimes lightly teasing but always a regular aspect of their dynamic that Hawkeye enjoys playing up. Frank doesn't make any jokes directly mocking Hawkeye's masculinity that I can recall, beyond vague "pervert" and "degenerate" remarks, which, while often historically homophobic, in the show's context tend to be treated as a reference to his heterosexual endeavours.

Frank's effeminacy is a point of mockery and derision, but Hawkeye's is a point of pride, and not intended to make him any less likeable to an audience. Antagonists don't get to score points off of Hawkeye by mocking his feminine traits, but Hawkeye makes fun of Frank regularly by mocking his feminine traits.

This difference in framing can partially be explained by the nature of their respective gender performances.

While Hawkeye and Frank are both effeminate, they're effeminate in many opposite ways. Frank is weak-willed while Hawkeye is strong-willed. Frank is unappealing to most women, while Hawkeye is something of a lady's man. Frank cannot face his fears to rise to a challenge, but Hawkeye can. But on the flipside, Frank refuses to admit to fear while Hawkeye openly proclaims it. Frank strives to attain authority while Hawkeye refuses it or takes it on only begrudgingly. Frank is obsessed with guns to a freudian extent while one of Hawkeye's most famous monologues of the show is a speech about refusing to carry one. Frank worships the concept of traditional masculinity even while he can't perform it himself, while Hawkeye mocks the concept and would refuse to perform it even if he could.

The Sniper is an excellent case study of these contrasts. In this episode, Hawkeye is effeminate and at ease with it, while Frank is desperate to prove himself masculine. Frank and Margaret flirt with strong Freudian overtones while Frank shoots a gun while nearby Hawkeye flirts with with a nurse with a line about "tasting" her. Hawkeye connects with the nurse he's wooing by relating to how scared she is and huddling in fear with her, while Margaret demands that Frank prove his masculinity by going out and taking down the sniper himself. Frank carries a gun while trying to approach the sniper, while Hawkeye carries a white flag. Frank tries to make fun of Hawkeye for wanting to surrender, but he can't bring himself to approach the sniper while Hawkeye does.

This contrast of gender performance is a consistent aspect of Hawkeye and Frank's dynamic throughout the show, but The Sniper makes it a central theme so it's a useful example to show how their relationships to masculinity are a deliberate aspect of their dynamic.

And while Hawkeye makes fun of Frank's femininity, it's significant that he also regularly makes fun of Frank's masculinity - his love of guns (eg The Sniper), his sexual affairs (eg the exchange about Frank as a "fantastic performer" in Yankee Doodle Doctor), his numerous attempts to exert authority (eg Welcome to Korea), his desire for socially approved success (eg Hot Lips and Empty Arms), etc.

Both masculine and feminine sides of Frank are comprised of negative character traits, while Hawkeye embodies the best of both - emotional expression and healthy ways of coping by talking about his feelings; bravery but not machismo; intelligence and skill as a doctor rather than an officer; empathy and a willingness to listen; sexual prowess but largely through his love of foreplay rather than his dick game (which, in the context of the early 70s, is a somewhat feminine attribute that distinguishes him from a typical traditionally masculine man); etc.

Hawkeye demonstrates some of the most appealing and healthy qualities of both masculinity and femininity while Frank demonstrates, or strives to demonstrate, the more toxic qualities of both. Through including a few positive masculine traits in the mix, the narrative is able to depict Hawkeye as likeable, admirable, and desirable in his effeminacy while Frank is depicted as loathesome in his. Hawkeye gets one of many, many women in The Sniper by showing vulnerability, while Frank only appeals to Margaret, and Margaret is portrayed as borderline pathological in her sexual attraction to violent masculinity (the scene where Frank excites her with his gun, for example, also includes an electra complex joke, and there's a running rape kink gag in this episode as well).

Another aspect to consider when it comes to differentiating Hawkeye and Frank's respective femininities is hypocrisy. Similar to how Frank and Margaret's affair is mocked because they can't admit to it while Hawkeye and Trapper's affairs are glorified, part of what makes Frank's effeminacy so mock-worthy, while Hawkeye's feminine qualities are a source of pride and rebellion, is that Frank refuses to admit to them.

Frank desperately wants to be the ideal heroic army man and often play-acts the part, poorly. When Hawkeye mocks him by calling him a woman, for example, he's drawing attention to Frank's failure to live up to his own ideals. And when Hawkeye calls himself a woman, he's mocking those same ideals. The message is that Frank is pathetic not so much for failing to be traditionally masculine, but for wanting to be traditionally masculine at all.

Ultimately the ways Hawkeye and Frank perform masculinity and femininity are pointedly in opposition, from which masc and fem traits they embody, to how proudly they embody them. The show itself draws attention to these gendered similarities and differences between Frank and Hawkeye through a constant barrage of jokes, and even whole scenes and episodes. In this way the show portrays Frank as a hypocritical loser who wants to be masculine but fails to embody all but the worst traits, and Hawkeye as a cool, admirable guy who disdains the traditional pillars of masculinity and embraces his own effeminacy.

[swamprats4077]

Favorite Moments & Quotes ➡ 1.22 - Major Fred C. Dobbs

↪ Frank wants a transfer. (2/2)

[rescue-ram]

Finished my rewatch of S1

This has been my first experience binge watching MASH- I don't think I've ever watched more than 4 episodes in a row before, and usually not in order. So it was really interesting actually watching the show this way...

Hawkeye- his characterization stood out to me. While he's definitely not doing a Donald Sutherland impression, his portrayal is closer to movie than late series. Very laconic. In "Bananas, Crackers, and Nuts" there's a line where Frank calls him "a rock" which retrospectively feels like a joke, but in S1 isn't- he's clearly very stable and pretty unflappable.

I actually was tallying the amount of times Trapper and Hawkeye explicitly hook up with nurses and the crimes they commit lol and was surprised by how low the number is for both lol. Between the two of them they hooked up with women in 7 episodes, though they're referenced as doing it more often and they flirt/get shot down/refuse sex a little more often, bringing total up to 12. Only two episodes really featured pranks, which was also surprising

I know Major Fred C. Dobbs is in the running for worst MASH episode but I liked it lol. It was funny and had some quality TrapHawk moments, and the Hawnk kiss at the end made me laugh even as I added it to the rap sheet

Just tallying up the days that pass on screen gets us to just over 3 months, giving me little a hope for my horrible timeline ldkkdjf

I really liked the recurring characters- they didn't have a lot of depth per se but they made things feel fleshed out. It was nice having recurring nurses I could recognize and I will miss my boy Ugly John. God that we lived in the alternate universe where the writers had figured out what to do with Oliver...

Also was thinking about how a lot of the racist moments kinda come from the writers trying to engage in a neutral-to-well-meaning way but alas they were all white guys raised in a white supremacist culture and cannot escape that influence so it comes out horrifically dated, but I think they do try more in the early seasons

I had forgotten what a minor character Mulcahy is in S1. He gets a couple little moments, but I think Margie and Dish have more scenes lol...

Trapper my baby Trapper, he does not necessarily have a lot to do besides be lovable but he does it well. Him providing pediatric care for local kids is deffo going in my note document for Shit Trapper Is Doing lol...

Henry and Radar's relationship 🥹 I really liked both characters, scamp!Radar is so good, and Henry is so funny with these little moments of genuine wisdom and compassion... Good shit

I really liked both Margaret and Frank, not a lot to say beyond that, but they're just so good. Just enough nuance to make 'em pop.

Gaaaaah many more thoughts than I can type, but in conclusion I Love MASH

[shiveringsoldier]

Character ask, Trapper John McIntyre: 2, 9, 18, 23, 25 🖤

Thank you!

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

I positively adore how good he is with children. While I have mixed feelings about "Kim" as an episode, it is very sweet how quickly he becomes attached to the little boy. In the scene in "Dear Dad" when we see him vaccinate the local children, he is just so gentle with them, and you can tell that he loves doing what he's doing. I also love the scenes in "Bulletin Board" when he's writing a letter to one of his daughters and trying to explain what he's doing in a way she can understand. He's clearly torn up about being away from his daughters.

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

No, but that's not necessarily a reflection of him. I just hate roommate situations and would much, much rather live by myself.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

It's too easy to saw Hawkeye, so instead I'll say Ginger! I love that Trapper and Hawkeye make her laugh after Frank made her cry in "Major Fred C. Dobbs," and while I don't remember the exact episode I know we see them dancing with each other in the officers club at some point. I wish we'd gotten more of that relationship and more of Ginger in general.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I don't think I have a favorite picture, but I like just about any picture where we see him smile. I love his big toothy grin.

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

I think my first impression of him was fairly positive, but I also think I was too smitten with Hawkeye to give much thought to Trapper. My impression of him is mostly unchanged. I understand why Wayne Rogers was frustrated with the show's lack of attention to Trapper, especially in season 1 when he largely functions as Hawkeye's sidekick, but I think the writing gradually improved in that regard. I wish he'd stayed past season 3 so he could've had a chance at some good long-term character development.

[redhatmeg]

Okay, I'm back. Just in time for Major Fred C. Dobbs.

You know, as much as Butt Monkeys are popular in sitcoms (and comedies in general), there is a moment when the treatment of them by heroes and narrative becomes problematic. Especially where the hero is a prankster type who likes to pull particularly nasty pranks, bordering on gaslighting.

And Major Fred C. Dobbs is the moment when Frank Burns finally has enough of Hawkeye and Trapper's bullshit and decides to get transferred. Yes, Frank Burns can be annoying, he can be a coward, he can be a racist, sanctimonous dick who cheats on his wife and leads Margaret on, but some of the pranks Hawkeye and Trapper do to him seem excessive. Because you stop and think about how this prank can fuck with one's brain and feelings.

The recording of Frank and Margaret's last conversation that gets blasted through the whole camp is such a prank. The narrative treats it as Hawkeye and Trapper going too far, even though they themselves don't see it that way (at least initially). Colonel Blake tries to make them aware of this, since Margaret decided to transfer too, but they both don't think they did anything wrong. It's only when Blake punishes them with double shifts when they realize they need to do something about Frank and Margaret.

I wonder how many future episodes will show Hawkeye and Trapper going too far and address it. I imagine they might be scarce.

[mashed4077]

frank got sooo flanderized by s4 & s5 like ig u could say he just deteriorated over the series but like im watching major fred c dobbs & when he sees radar with his teddy bear he doesnt mock him or anything which later seasons frank 100% wouldve done (in fact i think he did at some point). early seasons frank could be decent sometimes n they threw it away in favor of making him just purely bad and on one hand i get it but on the other :(

[goblinupmoss]

i forgot hawkeye made out with burns akshsjks

[hawkeyeslaughter]

What are some of your favorite moments with Hawkeye and Trapper? What about Hawkeye and Charles?

thank you for the ask anon !! 🫶🫶🫶

— probably my favorite hawkeye + trapper moment , although it’s very subtle , is in ‘ major fred c . dobbs ‘ where hawk and trap put frank’s hand in water while he’s sleeping and when he wakes up they’re staring at him like 😐😐 ( until trapper breaks character and starts laughing ) . my runner up is in ‘ love story ‘ when hawk and trap are in margaret’s cot and they do the ‘ the first one was too hard ‘ ‘ and the second one was too soft ‘ bit , that scene always makes me cackle

— my answer for charles and hawkeye is sooooo basic but it’s hard for me not to be soft about ‘ actually , hawkeye , i never told you anything ‘ . charles and hawkeye have so many great funny moments together that it’s hard for me to pick a specific one ( also because my memory of later seasons is kind of hazy ) but i always like this one . also any scenes with drunk charles and semi - sober hawkeye have my heart they make me cry laughing 😭

[variousqueerthings]

and now I’ve finished my rewatch of s1

(EDIT: yankee doodle doctor! I forgot to fuckn include it - done now)

which, I’ve gotta say -- considering I only watched it for the first time... in late August of this year? -- I think I’d already internalised this idea of the show “still finding its feet” in that season/generally not being as good

however while this is true in the sense that there are some concepts that are rougher now/better explored in later stories + character things that definitely don’t exist later on (Hawkeye mentions “mom and sis,” and Radar smokes and drinks I think are the two I noticed the most... there’s also Henry’s wife giving birth in showtime, which I don’t think is ever brought up again, but I can include it in my show canon)

(makes him cheating on her feel worse though)

(also saved this:)

(haha... ha.... oh no)

anyway, a lot of character stuff and concepts persist! 

the “dear” episodes of course, the depiction of the army as both inherently ridiculous and dangerous (the ringbanger, the army-navy game, tuttle) feels pretty consistent, even some early experimentation in episodes like yankee doodle doctor and showtime (which, I take back my previous post, showtime also feels like a season-ending episode, so that makes it s1,3,5,7 for me so far). And Klinger made appearances much sooner and more consistently than I remembered. Even that early on it feels like the writers could tell that character was something special

then there’s Hawkeye becoming Chief Surgeon in episode 4 already, early seeding for Margaret to become more friendly with especially Hawkeye (although they’re right in showtime -- she and Trapper always seemed to have a tension... she shoulda given some % of the perfect guy to him, she and Hawkeye bonding over wanting to lowkey bone Trapper), and Mulcahy’s series-long arc of not feeling like he’s necessary in comparison to the others in the camp

an early couple of entries into the “Hawkeye’s brain works a certain kind of way” with “yankee doodle doctor,” “bananas, crackers, and nuts,” “tuttle,” “sticky wicket,” “major fred c dobbs,” and the whole nude-camp-walk in “dear dad again” especially

a lot of same-sex flirting, including some of my favourite scenes, such as: Hawkeye and Trapper dancing, Hawkeye kissing Frank -- on the forehead and on the mouth, Hawkeye warning Frank that he’s going to call an usher if he doesn’t stop walking his fingers up his thigh, Hawkeye and Klinger discussing gaudy outfits, Hawkeye telling Trapper he won’t go home with him just because he gets him drunk, Hawkeye and Trapper flirting in Margaret’s bed, and Hawkeye telling the general he wants his baby, and also general vibes, such as Tommy saying young Hawkeye was “a bit of a sissy,” Hawkeye giving Trapper his long-johns because of one pathetic cough, and the way Hawkeye grabs the back of Trapper’s neck in relief and support in showtime

(not shown on this screenshot is how he shakes him a bit, like he’s holding onto the scruff of a puppy)

and then of course the first suggestion of the show’s overall trajectory with “sometimes you hear the bullet,” but would argue particularly “yankee doodle doctor,” “ceasefire,” “sticky wicket,” and “showtime” are also strong indications of that

Shower scenes: 3 (the ringbanger, sticky wicket, showtime)

Most shocking thing that never comes up again: Klinger threatening to use a hand-grenade in camp and Mulcahy talking him down

Favourite 3 episodes: sometimes you hear the bullet (yeah yeah it’s obvious but it’s That Episode!), tuttle (this was the first episode for me that really cemented how into the show I was going to be), aaand then a tie between sticky wicket and ceasefire 

Singing: I forgot to document that this season! Silly me...

Kind of insane about this:

Followed by Hawkeye refusing her advances and her pressing on regardless (with the line “I’m not interested in your mind,” interested in the role reversal happening here), and then Trapper comes in and interrupts them